<p>Class – I fell in LOVE with Oxy, but I’m not the one attending. Although DD was impressed (a difficult feat at this juncture). It certainly is my kid’s kind of school. Just an all around class act. The price tag makes me cry a little.</p>
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SNORT! Too funny, Blue.</p>
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<p>Indeed, sometimes it’s easier to figure out things you want to avoid than to figure out what you liked about a school that seemed “good”. Also, my DS’11 really only had one school that he “hated” off based on a visit, and I kind of think that having that experience reassured him that all his other schools really were good fits, now that he knew what a “poor fit” might look like.</p>
<p>Got a dose of reality today. Looked up the tuition for some of the schools D is considering and was SHOCKED at the cost for some of the large public out of state colleges vs. others. OMG–University of Colorado is $30,300 for tuition only (+ $18K for room and board and other costs) --nearly $10,000 higher than Wisconsin and $15,000 higher than Oregon State. I had no idea! This is going to be an interesting process…</p>
<p>Agent, thank you for your reply. Chapman is one of the school we are interested in, I am guessing it’s the one that didn’t make the cut for you! Ouch! Makes me worried, as academics is the most important aspect for us, if DS would see misspellings, he’ll notice. Too bad Oxy doesn’t have the major he’s interested in.</p>
<p>OSU keeps looking better, eh, kees? ;)</p>
<p>Is Chapman the one that didn’t make the academic cut? Inquiring minds want to know. It’s one we are planning to look at for S.</p>
<p>The college counselors at S and D’s highschool often recommend the same set of schools to very different kids. I think they like to recommend colleges that have had good results (both in terms of acceptance, and kids doing well when they get there), and colleges where they have contacts.</p>
<p>The sticker price at a lot of these schools is frightening. Some of the schools’ web pages have pretty good Netprice calculators, but one never knows until the FA offer comes. That is why some kids apply to so many colleges.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for the info on Naviance and thanks Ajin on the schools websites… great info! I guess I will have to see Naviance to really get what its all about. I just can’t picture it completely in my head right now. It sounds like it really won’t be of use to her?? Which is fine…I don’t think it will make/break her college acceptances either way. </p>
<p>As far as CC goes, if it not for CC, I would know NOTHING about this whole process! Especially seeing that I never went to college. I can’t imagine anyone ever thinking that this was a time suck. I am so glad that I found it in dd’s frosh year. Wish I had found it sooner.</p>
<p>BTW, what is OXY? I have never heard of it before til now… why is it so great and is it something that dd should be considering?</p>
<p>@Seattle at least your kids GC recommends schools with a half way decent rep. Our kids get community college shoved down their throats.</p>
<p>^your D might like it, NewHaven – Occidental College, small liberal arts school outside LA. It got on D’s radar because Obama went there. Also had a good Div III XC and track team. D actually got $7K in merit aid plus another $5K for the President’s Award, so they do give out merit aid (as well of course as financial aid).</p>
<p>D is so used to Manhattan. When we visited, she said “where is their wildlife? Their squirrels? And their pigeons?”</p>
<p>OK thanks for the clarification… I saw Oxy and had no idea what it was…It made me think of the acne medicine… :)</p>
<p>I know! Or that medicine that’s always showing up on Law & Order. Time for a new nickname.</p>
<p>Classof2015 - I think GC’s know a few schools and then recommend it to anyone who can get in. Our GC puts a few schools on everyone’s list.</p>
<p>One thing I remember - the gc’s goal is to get the kids in college. Period. Not the best fit, the best deal, where they’re challenged, etc Mine even puts out stats that his choices have a 90% success rate - that tells me - he low-balls everyone. </p>
<p>The sad thing is how many parents leave their brains at the door and let the gc and the kid do it all. I think there are lots of missed opportunities. </p>
<p>My sons gf is prime example - I put in a lot of work and research and effort and he is in a school he loves, very engaged, he would have never found it on his own, he is only the 2nd kid from our hs to attend. His gf with better stats is at a lesser school, unhappy, unchallenged and now unable to transfer because there is no merit for transfers.</p>
<p>Interesting about the trips crossing schools off the list. S wants to look at schools in Chicago but wants to see the big names- the ones he won’t necessarily get into. And the ones we won’t pay for.</p>
<p>I planned the school visit that has his possible major which doesn’t excite him like Uc or nu.
I asked if driving thru and not taking official tours would be ok and he said yes. </p>
<p>If miracles happen (more with money and not admission) we could go back.
So thank you for making me feel like it isn’t a waste of time.</p>
<p>Wait, wait . . . You get lists of colleges from the GC? Where ARE you people? I think the gc’s only job at d’s school is to make sure kids graduate from high school. I’ve never seen a list (and this isn’t my first child), never spoken to the man. To my knowledge, he has never spoken to d about anything except her classes for the next year, and he’s pretty much rubber stamped those. I know what Naviance is from cc, but we don’t have it.</p>
<p>O’lives-- I THINK the public schools that are in certain areas/private/boarding/catholic high schools do an amazing job of sheparding students in the college admissions process. Last night, I took the time to look at a bunch of private/boarding schools college counseling pages on their websites… and WOW. What they give the kids is priceless. Its not going to happen in the inner city for the most part, maybe I am wrong, but it definitely doesn’t happen @ dd’s school. Thats why CC has become such an invaluable place to learn about the college going culture.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call our school inner city, but it is economically and racially diverse. About 52% free/reduced lunch and climbing, 40% minority. There’s a cop on campus at all times, a little gang activity, sometimes the dogs make a sweep of the place, but there are no medal detectors. In addition to the typical urban issues you might see on the news, there are a fair number of very wealthy students in the building. School has the highest AP and DE enrollment in the district. </p>
<p>The only private options are parochial, one catholic high school and one ultra-conservative evangelical Christian option.</p>
<p>ordinary - you’re not alone! The GC for S14 and D14 does nothing more than make sure the kids are hitting the requirements for graduation…and this is in a district where more than 90% move on to higher ed. She doesn’t even tell them whether they’re hitting the requirements for the Honors diploma (state thing). It’s 100% up to us. Both D and S have gone to speak to her in the past about classes to schedule for upcoming years, but honestly, she was not all that helpful and I sincerely doubt she knows either kid by sight, as I think she has around 400 kids (kids are assigned GCs alphabetically) as her “caseload.”</p>
<p>We do have Naviance, but parents have never received any info about it, and I doubt that many parents are accessing it and utilizing it in any way. Such a shame!</p>
<p>Ours, too! Kids are assigned to counselors alphabetically, except high risk. They have this own counselor. Regular GCs have about 400 kids, at risk counselor has less. The number I heard was just over 100, but I imagine it’s not a lighter load at all!</p>
<p>Our hs ( a private) has regular GCs for the fresh/soph and first half of jr yr…then the kids get assigned a “college” GC…Hahahahaha</p>
<p>K1 did not want to go the the state flagship and yet–both flagship schools were “on the lost” given by the GC, as were schools w/o the sport/EC…
even though K1 had been adamant about STEM + EC</p>
<p>seriously— told us what little effort went into giving K1 that list…</p>
<p>These GCs have about 40 Jrs…per GC
and the Srs are really close to being “done” since the apps are in…
What is there to do but to wait for any late decisions etc.
One parent of a current SR told me that her ds has all four acceptances and has chosen where he is going… another said her dd has 2 letters and is waiting for 3 more decisions…</p>
<p>So at least at this school its a pretty cushy job. Most parents are on top of it.</p>
<p>Well we’re still not sure about next year’s classes as school is still closed due to the storm! Hopefully the city will be able to get dug out fully today and they’ll go back to school tomorrow. She and a friend are downstairs supposedly teaching themselves their physics right now but we’ll see how much work is actually getting done. She thinks it’s going to be a bad end of the week as the teachers are scrambling to catch up on finishing up units and tests before vacation starts next week!</p>
<p>On a fun note, we had a group of 10 girls and 7 moms from our town (not her HS school) who went prom dress shopping yesterday afternoon! The girls are all a part of one big really great group of kids and love hanging out together. There are more than those girls and about the same number of guys involved. Monday afternoon they were all home from school too and went sledding at one house. Most of them don’t have prom dates yet - I think the boys are waiting to be told by the girls who they’re supposed to ask! It gets a bit strategic as there are three girls who go to different schools (DD included) and a few boys who are sophomores who need to be asked by the Junior girls. But the shopping was so much fun and a big success. DD and three others got dresses - all different and all looked beautiful. One of the “mom’s” was actually one of the boy’s mom who only has boys and was so thrilled to be along for the event as it’s something she never thought she’d be doing. She had a blast! It was really fun to see the different style dresses on the different girls and how each reflected their personalities. </p>
<p>So DD is set for one prom but still has another one to go. Don’t know if the dress she bought will be for her HS prom or the town HS prom. Luckily her boyfriend actually did ask her after sledding Monday night although apparently he didn’t ask the way the other girls planned for him to ask! So there may be a redo. I love this group of kids!!</p>
<p>Chapman is the school that didn’t make the cut and it was for several reasons. </p>
<p>DD was turned off because
: the guide and his trainee only focused on the “fun” stuff on campus and never once spoke about academics.
: Neither tour guide appeared to be intellectual
: Most of the prospective students didn’t appear to be intellectual or concerned with academics
: Misspelled signs
: Seeming slacker attitude of students. Hardly anyone was studying, mostly sleeping and eating.</p>
<p>In her defense, high school is DD’s first taste of academics geared to her level and she is now hypersensitive to any academic institution that she believes isn’t up to snuff.</p>
<p>Oxy is indeed Occidental. It’s located in Los Angeles between Pasadena and West Hollywood. It’s a gorgeous campus that has been used in many TV and film productions. Those of you familiar with Clueless will recognize it as Cher’s high school. </p>
<p>It’s high on my list because:</p>
<ul>
<li>They give decent merit aid.</li>
<li>They have extensive classes in math & physics (DD’s interests) and if they don’t have what you want, they enroll you in Caltech for free. </li>
<li>Low student to teacher ratio 10 or 15 -1.</li>
<li>Undergrad only, opening up research opportunities</li>
<li>A greek system that is inclusive to the entire population. And only 20% is greek.</li>
<li>We actually toured THE LIBRARY. What a concept.</li>
<li>Great networking opportunities for graduates because it’s in L.A.</li>
<li>Students study abroad – for free.</li>
</ul>
<p>DD liked all of the above plus</p>
<p>–the weather
–they have a bus that takes students anywhere they want in the local area – Target, restaurants etc.
–freshman can have cars/free parking and space on campus
–80% of all students live on campus the entire 4 years
–lots of activities, concerts, speakers on campus
–They have a major/minor in International Relations
–Opportunity open to all students to work at the U.N. senior year.</p>
<p>
Class, this made me laugh out loud!</p>
<p>We did see squirrels and our tour guide even told us a cute story about how she swears she saw a squirrel dip a french fry in ketchup.</p>